Telling a Ghost Story
by I-Am-Peevies
Summary: Arthur didn't believe Merlin could do it. The game was simple, tell two true stories and one false story and the knights, Arthur, and Gwen will guess which one's the lie. He shocks them with three spooky stories, and everyone hopes each one is a lie. Because if even one story is true, it is a truly scary world out there. Doesn't include stories from the series. /I don't own Merlin/
1. Set Up

"And then the bird said "May I ask what the chicken did?""

Everyone roared in laughter at Gwaine's story. After the laughter died down, Percival added another log to the campfire. They were all sleeping in the forest because Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table had gone to check a series of villages at the edge of the kingdom, bringing Merlin and Gwen. Gwen had fought tooth and nail in order to go with them saying that as Queen, she should check her people as well.

It was Gwen's idea to have a story contest. It had simple rules. You had to tell three stories, two of them true and one of them false. The story all had to be at least two minutes long and all three had to be of the same genre. Meaning you had to tell three funny stories, like Gwaine did, or three adventure stories, which Arthur obviously had.

Everyone stayed quiet trying to guess which one of Gwaine's stories was false. In the end, mostly everyone agreed that the end one with a talking enchanted bird was too far of a push.

"That's everyone, so we should turn in. Percival, you have first watch," Arthur said.

"Merlin hasn't gone," Gwen protested.

"Yeah-"

"I don't think storytelling is a great skill of Merlin's. He's a rubbish liar, and that's what this game is centered about." Arthur pointed out, interrupting Merlin.

Gwen looked at her husband like he had gone insane. "For all you know, Merlin could be a fantastic storyteller."

"How would you know?" Elyan stated.

"I know because of the servant story telling contest in the month of Samhain*."

"What are you talking about?" Leon asked, confused.

Merlin gave the simple explanation "Every year, the servants in the castle hold a spooky story contest in the month of Samhain. Every night, the servants around the castle go to a huge unused room in the castle to listen to the contestants tell their stories. First week, everyone who wants to join tells their story and gets voted by the judges whether they go on or not. After that, they weed out the good people and send them on until there are 3 people left on the eve of Samhain, where the audience votes. The winner gets to tell their best story on Samhain, and is rewarded the title of the best storyteller for an entire year until the next contest."

"Bet you didn't get very far" Arthur snorted.

Gwen looked at him angrily, "Merlin has held the title of best storyteller for 7 years in total, out 9 he participated. He wasn't able to win two of them because he had so much work, he wasn't able to make it."

Merlin blushed at the praise, and Arthur looked properly sheepish at the harsh glare of his wife. "Ok, ok. Merlin, you can try a round." Merlin looked at him, "Why thank you, your most noble sire for giving your permission to tell my most fantastic tales" he said sarcastically.

Gwen looked to him and said, excitingly, "Ooh, ooh, tell the ax hallow murder one."

All the knights looked at Merlin weirdly, not being able to imagine sunshine Merlin being able to tell a murder story well enough to make Gwen so enthusiastic.

"No, you've already heard that one. I've got three in mind. You can tell me if I should use them next year." Merlin looked around him, as everyone got comfortable around the bright fire. Merlin found what he wanted and promptly poured a little bit of water from the pouch, dimming the fire.

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_*Samhian is the Merlin equivalent to Halloween for those out there who don't know_


	2. First Story: Red Eyes

"As you all know, I didn't go directly from Ealdor to Camelot when I first came here. I took a roundabout route so I could see a couple things before I settled for a city life. In one city, I was helping a man with a project and had to stay for four days. The man was kind enough to pay a room for me in the local inn. As I retrieved my key for my room, the innkeeper told me;

"Whatever you do, do not open the door at midnight."

"And he left. I was kind of angry that I wasn't able to ask why I couldn't open the door at midnight, but I shook off the feeling and went to bed. But in the middle of the night, I woke to the church bells ringing twelve times, meaning midnight. I looked through the keyhole of my room, thinking that I heard something outside my room. But can you guess what I saw?

"I saw a little girl, in a white dress. Skipping up, and down the hallway. Now, I was about to open the door to reprimand the child, demanding "What are you doing out here at this hour. Do your parents know you're out here, waking people up?!" But then I remembered:

"Whatever you do, do not open the door at midnight."

"So I heeded the man's warning, and went back to bed. Second night, I wake up at midnight once more, look through the keyhole, and see that same little girl. In a white dress. Skipping up, and down the hallway. Now, the third night, right before I go to bed I think to myself, "God, if the girl wakes me up one more time, I really don't know what I'm going to do to that girl."

"But once again, I wake up to the twelve chimes of the bells in the church tower. I look through the keyhole, but this time I do not see the girl. All I see is a bright red. So I go back to sleep.

"In the morning, I give my key back. The innkeeper was about to walk away when I asked why I couldn't open my door at midnight. He gave a great sigh, and replied. "You know, this building is very old. It has a lot of history. And in that very hallway, a little girl was murdered twenty-five years ago. People say they can still see her ghost in a white dress. Skipping up, and down the hallway at midnight."

"I thought to myself about how creepy that was, seeing a ghost. As I turned away, the innkeeper called after me. "Oh, I forgot to say. They say she has bright red eyes.""

Everyone around the campfire gave a shiver. Leon and Elyan even gave a small cry being startled by the story. Gwaine and Arthur looked around, confused.

"I don't understand. What's got you all so scared? So what, she has red eyes" Gwaine muttered

Merlin smiled at them evilly, the creepiness accented by the dying fire. "But Arthur, Gwaine, don't you remember. On the third night, when I looked through the keyhole, all I saw was a bright red."

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**For those who don't get it: On the third night, the girl was looking through the keyhole, back at Merlin. I know that this is really similar to the Keyhole on creepy pasta, but I swear that I made this up on my own. It was half a year later after I wrote the scary story when I found The Keyhole online. I am so sorry. By the way, does writing out scary stories work out? Read and Review please. Goodbye my father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommates. **


	3. Second Story: Mad Henry

**I do not own the story in this chapter. I took it from the internet.**

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Everyone leaned forward a little, having now discovered Merlin's talent for stories. He paused for a while, letting the last story set in before he started the next one. He started in a hushed voice, building the tension in the air.

"This one was told to me by mother, by how she remembered it. This was before I was born, when my mother was 16 when she lived in a completely different village from Ealdor.

"Mad Henry was a hermit who lived alone in a decrepit, yet lush house at the edge of town. Rumors were rife about the wild-eyed man. Some folks said that he was a sorcerer who called upon the powers of darkness to wreak havoc upon his neighbors. Others called him a mad scientist who could restore life to foul corpses from the local cemetery using the powers of science. No respectable citizen in town had anything to do with Mad Henry

"Then one year a new family moved to town with a lovely daughter, Rachel, who caught Mad Henry's eye. He showered the maiden with gifts—goblets of pure gold, necklaces of pearl, and a pot of daisies that never dropped a single petal. Despite the gifts, Rachael fell in love with another, Geoffrey, a handsome young man just home from a being scholar's apprentice. A week after meeting they eloped, leaving behind a stunned Mad Henry.

"When Rachael and Geoffrey returned from the elopement, they threw a big party and invited everyone in town. While Rachel was dancing with her father, she heard a clap of thunder. Lightning flashed again and again. Suddenly, the double doors blew open and a breeze whirled in, bringing with it the smell of dead, decaying things. Mad Henry loomed in the doorway, pupils gleaming red with anger. He was followed by the grotesque figures of the dead, who came marching two by two into the room. Their eye sockets glowed with blue fire as they surrounded the room.

"Two of the corpses captured Geoffrey and threw him down at the feet of their lord. Red eyes gleaming, Mad Henry drew a silver-bladed knife and casually cut the bridegroom's throat from ear to ear. Rachel screamed and ran forward, pushing through the foul, stinking corpses of the dead, and flung herself upon her dying husband.

"Kill us both," she cried desperately.

"But Mad Henry plucked the lass out of the pool of blood surrounding her dead husband and carried her out into the thundering night. Behind him, the army of the dead turned from the grizzly scene and followed their master. The sounds of thunder and lightning faded away as the alchemist and his dead companions disappeared into the dark night.

"Geoffrey's father and Rachael's father gathered a small mob and followed the evil hermit, intent upon saving Rachel. When they searched Mad Henry's house, they found it completely empty save for a light, which shone from a series of mysterious globes that bobbed near the ceiling of each room. Mad Henry had vanished.

"Search parties scoured the countryside for days, but turned up nothing. Geoffrey was buried in the local cemetery, and the dance hall was torn down. No one in town spoke about what had happened, and no one dared imagine what had become of poor Rachel.

"A year to the day after the ball, a timid knock sounded upon the door of Rachael's parents' home. When her father opened it, he saw a gaunt, gray figure on the stoop. Her eyes were dull with exhaustion and pain. It was Rachel! Her tongue had been cut out so she couldn't speak. But when she produced a knife from her tattered garments—the knife with a silver blade that they had last seen in the hands of Mad Henry— the gleam of satisfaction in Rachel's eyes told them that the streaks of blood that coated the knife were those of Mad Henry. That night, Rachel died in her sleep with a peaceful smile upon her ravaged face."

Everyone looked around, almost anywhere but where Merlin sat. Merlin's face was eerily lit up from the dying fire, giving an extremely scary glow. The shadows on his face danced, making Merlin look insane and nothing like the loving Merlin they know. It almost seemed like their young friend had been replaced with some evil and unnatural creature. Arthur looked worryingly at his wife, wondering how she was holding when he himself was scared, though he would never admit it. But Merlin gave almost no break before launching into yet another story, skillfully manipulating his audience.

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**Again, any good? By the way, wow. I barely posted this an hour ago and yet I have 2 reviews and 5 follows. That's more than I thought would happen in a week. Guess it's because I'm completely new at this and don't know how it goes. Thank you thank you thank you thank you. Well, now I leave you my fellow hobbits, fore I am going on an adventure.**


	4. Third Story: Lick too

**I do not own the scary story here either. You might recognize it, as it is well known. I got it off of Yahoo and changed it a bit to fit the time frame. If I got something wrong or missed something while modifing it, please tell me**

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_Arthur looked worryingly at his wife, wondering how she was holding when he himself was scared, though he would never admit it. But Merlin gave almost no break before launching into yet another story, skillfully manipulating his audience._

"This shall be my final story before I end, so listen carefully."

Everyone looked like they did not want to listen carefully, skip over the scary parts, and maybe sleep peacefully that night. But they needed to know more, hinged upon Merlin's words. Merlin looked around, amused, even though he didn't show it on his face. This was why he loved telling ghost stories, knowing that he had them in his palm and that he could influence their emotions. It might sound a little too much like Morgana, who loves to inspire fear, but it was a completely different branch of fear. They could snap out of it any moment they wanted to, but they didn't.

"One night a young girl, Lily Foster, is left alone for the night, in her house, since it was the all the servants' day off, and her parents went out to town to visit her uncle. This was fine with Lily, especially since she had her faithful dog, Scout, protecting her through the night. She made herself something to eat, and sat down at the kitchen table. She heard a knock on the door. It was the village runner, who's job was to spread news across town.

"He told her that there was an insane killer on the loose. It was advised that people secure all windows and doors as a safety precaution. With her dog by her side, the young girl locked the front and back doors. She went from window to window, and locked each of them one at a time. She reassured herself that she would be fine with her trusty dog, and that her parents would be home shortly, anyway.

"So, Lily had a pleasant, peaceful evening, and finally decided around eleven o'clock that it was time for bed. She went to her bedroom, and slid under the big, warm blanket on her bed. Before closing her eyes, reached her hand down under the bed, and allowed her dog to lick it- she did this every night, because it comforted her.

"A short while later she awoke to the sound of a scratching noise at her bedroom window. She eyed the window, and reminded herself that the whole house was locked and she was safe. She stuck her hand under her bed and felt her dog's slobbery tongue cross over the palm of her hand. She sighed and went back to sleep.

"An hour or so later she sat up in bed...She had heard footsteps in the hallway, and crept out of bed to see if it was possibly just her parents returning from her uncle. Seeing nothing, she returned to bed. As she was about to stick her hand under the bed, she heard a drip, drip, drip, followed by some footsteps. She walked downstairs into the laundry room, the only place in the house with water. But there were no buckets of water leaking, and no clothes dripping. That surely wasn't the source of the drip. She crept upstairs and climbed into bed. "This is silly," she told herself "I'm probably just imagining things."

"She stuck her hand under the bed, and felt the dog lick her hand. An hour later she awoke again. A little mad at this point, she jumped out of bed. The dripping wasn't coming from the laundry so it must be from somewhere else. She crept along the side of the hallway, and walked into the kitchen.

"She groped along the side of the wall with her left hand, looking for a torch. She lit the torch and gasped. There, hanging a beam in the ceiling was Scout, her dog -skinned- a pool of blood had formed on the floor with a continuous 'drip, drip, drip' as the blood from the dog hit the ground. Something on the wall caught her eye; written on the wall was a message in blood..."Humans can lick too.""

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**This is the creepiest story by far. Brrrrrr. It's short, yet super effective. Now I'm going to go and read something nice and fluffy seeing that it is 11 o'clock and I am writing this in total darkness and I'm kind of freaking out from the story. Goodbye fellow danosaurs. (BTW, look up danisnotonfire, seeing that he is the best youtuber in the history of the world. Join and be a Danosaur. One of us. One of us. One of us. Sorry, off topic)**


	5. Which one?

All the people, besides one, looked uneasy and slightly scared. A log broke in the fire, causing everyone, but that same person, to jump. Merlin looked calmly around, making eye contact with every person around the campfire, then suddenly came out of character and gave a brilliant smile to everyone. "So, how did I do?"

"Mate, you did an amazing job." Gwaine said after a small pause.

"As much as I hate to say it, but I am not sleeping easily tonight," Elyan stated. Everyone stayed uiet, trying to control the small shivers wracking from their body, each thinking a different thing.

Gwen: "I knew he would do a great job. Those were much better then ax murder hallow one he told last time."

Percival: "He was so convincing. Merlin is usually an open book, but now I really don't know about that. If he can tell stories like that, maybe he can lie a little better than we thought."

Arthur: "I'm shivering from the cold, not the story, obviously. I am the King; I don't get scared of stories. Wait, what was that noise?"

Gwaine: "I'm hungry. What if I went down to the kitchen in the middle of the night, to steal, I mean liberate some food, and there was the dog's head? _Shiver _Don't think of that."

Leon: "Oh my lord, two of these stories are **true**!"

Merlin disrupted their thoughts, "So which one do you think is the false one?"

"You mean two of them are true!" several of them yelled.

"Yeah, that was the entire point of the game, was it not? So guess. Was it the girl with red eyes, Mad Henry, or the one where humans can lick too?"

"You have to be kidding me! Two of them are true!" Arthur continued, not believing him, and looking into the forest around them like a ghost, Mad Henry, or a murderer could pop out at any time.

"Well yes, your pratness. It might have been your lack of brain power that caused you to forget that this is Truth, Truth, and Lie." Arthur pouted slightly grumbling about lack of brain power and how he can give him lack of brain power if he wasn't careful.

"I pray that the murderer one isn't true, I truly pray to God that it isn't. I really don't like the fact that there a sick minded people like that in the world. I will stick to the supernatural, ghosts, and revived dead people thank you very much." Gwaine stated.

"Wow, big word; supernatural. That was 5 syllables. We are all very proud of you Gwaine," Merlin teased.

"I think that it is the girl in the white dress one. If there was seriously a ghost who appeared regularly like that, people would panic and we would hear about it." Percival logically said, throwing his two cents in.

Everyone went around in a circle, saying which they thought was a lie. Arthur and Elyan said the last one. Leon said Mad Henry, and Gwen agreed with him. After every one of them had gone, they turned to Merlin, eager, but scared, to learn what was true and really out there in the world. But their silent pleas were not granted.

"You know what, I'm going to wait for the morning to tell, just to keep you guys on edge."

Arthur looked a little panicked "Merlin, as your king, I command you to tell us."

"What, are you scared?"

"No," Arthur backtracked, "I just, I'm just-"he stuttered.

"Scared" Merlin interrupted.

"Just want to know" Arthur ended lamely, not really convincing anyone.

If you're not scared, then you will have no problem waiting till the morning. Now I'm going to sleep." Merlin turned to the edge and started to make Arthur bed, before making his own. Everyone exchanged slightly panicked looks, but then started to get ready for bed, jumping at every sound.

In the morning, when Merlin woke up, everyone was awake already. The small bags under their eyes showed how well they slept. Merlin looked around, and found that his pratness was still sleeping. Everyone saw the gleam in Merlin's eyes when he went to wake the king up. And everyone knew that he was about to wake the king in a special way, that will result with the stocks once they got home. Everyone stepped back so that they wouldn't be associated with what was about to happen.

Merlin went to Arthur, and did something weird, yet absolutely genius. Everyone knew that Arthur was creeped out the most by the 'Humans lick too' story. And so, the servant woke the king by wetting a cloth, and rubbing it across the king's palm. Just like if someone had licked him palm. The king woke up straight away, with a look of terror on his face, which faded when he saw everyone laughing.

Gwaine didn't let Arthur start his entire speech about how he wasn't scared and how the stocks missed Merlin, so he is going to visit them once they get back. "Alright mate, you now have to tell us which one. As you see, everyone is dying to know."

"So you want to know," Merlin mysteriously said, "which one is it? Did I see a girl with red eyes, did my mother know of Mad Henry, or did Lily foster learn the hard way that humans lick too? Well I can happily say, that…" he paused building tension.

"That Mad Henry didn't exist" he admitted.

Some gave a sigh of relief, while other paled. A bunch of voices clamored at once

"Are you telling me-"

"You saw-"

"Who was Lily Foster-"

"That's so creepy-"

"-expect us to believe-"

"Why didn't-"

And so forth and so forth.

"Percival, the reason why you never heard of this ghost is because whenever they called someone to get rid of the ghost; she didn't appear. Only when they had left was when she appeared again. Eventually, the innkeeper just gave up and told everybody not to open the door. Lily Foster, well, there is nothing to be said there. Now, are we going to go to these villages or not?"

And from then on, Arthur and the knights were always making sure that Merlin told stories at every campfire.


End file.
